Saturday, February 20, 2010

How About Being Personally Responsible?

Sex Addiction. It's considered an actual problem, enough that there are sex addiction “clinics” and sex addiction treatments. I have an idea. How about we take responsibility for our actions and leave the word “addiction” to serious and real issues, like drug addiction.

Someone who wants a lot of sex is just that. Someone who wants a lot of sex. There's no physical problem that occurs if they don't have sex. There's no mental breakdown if they don't have sex. They just don't have it. They may feel sorry for themselves that they're not getting it, but it's not like their body is going to fall apart because they have to be celibate for a few hours.

But, in our society, which these days doesn't seem to want people to accept responsibility for their actions, has deemed that this is something we can't control either. We now have sex addicts.

1 comment:

I do think it's an addiction, but psychological, not physiological. That puts it in a different class of 'addiction', one that is typically based on other problems. Similar to video game addiction, shopping addiction, etc., I suppose.

You are right in that it takes personal responsibility to maintain control, but some people are not as well equipped psychologically to do that. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to let these folks think they aren't accountable, which is completely wrong. Instead they should be taught that they are in charge of their own choices, and they need to find an alternative... this is usually done by learning why a particular addictive behaviour shows itself.

That is really where the focus should be for people who have these issues, but nobody wants to admit they have a problem. What addiction comes down to is whether the behaviour interferes with every day life (or puts someone or something at risk).